Abbey of Bury St Edmunds - Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

"The site became home to the remains of the martyred King Edmund in 903 and the acquisition of such a notable relic made the monastery a place of pilgrimage as well as the recipient of numerous royal grants.

The Benedictine abbey itself was established in 1020. Edward the Confessor substantially enlarged the privileges in its charter and at the time of the Norman Conquest Bury ranked fourth among English abbeys in wealth and political importance. The Normans replaced the Saxon church on a grand scale using Barnack limestone.

The spectacular west front was completed around the turn of the 13th century under Abbot Samson, who added a great central tower and lower octagonal towers to either side. He also improved the accommodation including a new hall, the Black Hostry, to house the abbey’s many monastic visitors.

In 1214 the abbey was the site of a historic meeting between King John and his dissatisfied earls and barons, as a direct result of which the Magna Carta was sealed at Runnymede the following year.

The abbey continued to thrive throughout the 13th century but relations with the townspeople were rarely cordial. Matters came to a head in 1327 in a summer of riots, though disputes rumbled on throughout the 14th century. The abbey suffered other problems too, notably damage to the west tower through collapse and later a serious fire.

Despite these setbacks Bury St Edmunds remained politically important throughout the 15th century – Henry VI came for Christmas in 1433 and stayed for four months – and when it was surrendered to King Henry VIII in 1539 it still had a considerable income. Though the abbey precinct was quickly stripped of valuable building material, the abbot’s palace survived as a house until 1720. "

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